Readily transportable circuit breaker of two-piece segmented frame construction and two-position operating mechanism housing

ABSTRACT

A high-power circuit interrupter frame construction is provided having a two-piece, or two-part independent frame construction rendering it adaptable for ready transportation by flat car, and having an end housing capable of being moved to two positions. The end housing, which in this case contains the gas system, terminal blocks, etc. but could also contain the operating mechanism, is moved upwardly during rail transportation on the flat car, and following assemblage in the field, the housing is lowered to its operative lowered position. As a result, a minimum of piping connections and adjustments need be made, and all major components can be tested and adjusted at the factory prior to shipment.

United States Patent Neudorfer et al.

[451 May 9, 1972 [54] READILY TRANSPORTABLE CIRCUIT BREAKER OF TWO-PIECE SEGNIENTED FRAME CONSTRUCTION AND TWO-POSITION OPERATING MECHANISM HOUSING [72] Inventors: David H. Neudorfer, Pittsburgh; Ronald W. Crookston, Trafford; August U. Bertolino, Jeannette, all of Pa.

Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa.

[22] Filed: July 13, 1970 [21] App1.No.: 54,257

[73] Assignee:

Primary ExaminerHerman J l-lohauser Attorney-A. T. Stratton, Clement L. Mcl-lale and Willard R. Crout [5 7] ABSTRACT A high-power circuit interrupter frame construction is provided having a two-piece, or two-part independent frame construction rendering it adaptable for ready transportation by flat car, and having an end housing capable of being moved to two positions. The end housing, which in this case contains the gas system, terminal blocks, etc. but could also contain the operating mechanism, is moved upwardly during rail transportation on the flat car, and following assemblage in the field, the housing is lowered to its operative lowered position. As a result, a minimum of piping connections and adjustments need be made, and all major components can be tested and adjusted at the factory prior to shipment.

8 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATE'NIEDM 91912 SHEET 1 OF 2 i wvi OPEN TO MECHANISM IO FIG.4.

PATENTEDHM 9 I972 SHEET 2 [IF 2 SHIPPING ARRANGEMENT F l G. 2.

FIG.5.

INVENTORS David H.Neudorfer,Rono|d W. Crooksfon 0nd August U. Bertolino ATTORNEY READILY TRANSPORTABLE CIRCUIT BREAKER OF TWO-PIECE SEGMENTED FRAME CONSTRUCTION AND TWO-POSITION OPERATING MECHANISM HOUSING BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present-day requirements of the electrical utility industry require large-capacity high-voltage and high-power circuitbreaker structures, which are increasingly of larger and larger sizes. It, therefore, presents a shipping problem to transport these large-size circuitbreaker structures upon the fiat cars of railroad lines, so as to reduce the overall profile, or height of the equipment during rail transportation. This, of course, is necessary to permit the flat cars, together with the surmounted carried equipment, to pass under bridge, over trestles, etc.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,147,348, issued Sept. 1, 1964, to Winthrop M. Leeds and Frederick B. Johnson, illustrates a circuit-interrupter construction having a two-piece frame construction, wherein there is provided an unbolting line at the frame to minimize the vertical height, or profile of the equipment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention, the circuitbreaker structure has a two-piece, or two-part independent frame assembly comprising a lower subframe assembly or unit, and an upper frame assembly or unit, which will permit the two pieces of equipment to be transported by rail upon flat cars as independent entities. However, the present invention is, in addition, concerned with a two-position, or two-location end housing, which can be moved to an upper shipping position during rail shipment, and following assembly in the field, may be lowered to its lower operative position. By means of flexible wiring, wiring connections are eliminated during the final assembly and a minimum number of piping connections, and mechanical connections if a mechanism is contained therein, need be made.

It is, accordingly, a general object of the present invention to provide an easily transportable large-capacity high-voltage and high-power circuit interrupter, which will enable the major interrupting components to be assembled and tested at the factory prior to shipment, and to minimize the field-installation requirements during final assembly at the operating site.

Still a further object of the present invention is the provision of an improved circuit interrupter having a two-piece frame assembly, together with a two-position, or two-location end housing, the latter being raised during rail transportation, and lowered following field assembly, together with a minimum of coupling requirements.

Further objects and advantages will readily become apparent upon reading the following specification, taken in conjunction with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a high-voltage high-power circuit interrupter completely assembled;

FIG. 2 illustrates the upper frame assembly of the circuit interrupter with the end housing moved to its upper transportation position, so that the entire assemblage may be readily carried by rail on flat cars;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic view of the interrupter of each pole-unit;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic view of the operating mechanism linkage; and,

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line V-V of FIG. I.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to FIG. 1 thereof, the reference numeral 1 generally designates a threephase circuit interrupter capable of interrupting the threephases of a transmission line. As illustrated in FIG. 1, it will be apparent that there is provided a two-part frame assembly 2, comprising an upper frame unit 2A, and a lower attached frame unit 28, which may be bolted to the upper frame unit 2A. The three circuit-breaker structures, or pole-units "A", B and C are described and illustrated in U.S. Pat. application filed Dec. 9, 1968, Ser. No. 782,365, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,596,028, issued July 27, 1971 to Richard E. Kane et al., and assigned to the assignee of the instant application. As illustrated in FIG. 1, it will be observed that there is provided for each pole-unit A, 8" or C" an interrupting structure 4 and an adjacently disposed terminal-bushing structure 6. The terminal connections L1, L2 are made at the upper ends of the terminal bushing 6 and the upper end of the interrupting structure 4, as shown. The interrupting structure 4 is set forth and described in detail in U.S. Pat. application, Ser. No. 787,658, filed Dec. 30, 1968, by Frank L. Reese et al., and assigned to the assignee of the instant application. A U-shaped compressed-gas reservoir 5 (FIG. 3), associated with each poleunit, is fixedly attached to the upper frame support 2A.

An operating mechanism 8, attached to phase B", is provided for effecting simultaneous operation of the operating mechanisms 10 for the individual pole units A, B" and C. The operating mechanism 8 is set forth, and described in detail in U.S. Pat. application, Ser. No. 776,510, filed Nov. 18, 1968, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,624,329, issued Nov. 30, 1971 to William H. Fischer et al., and assigned to the same assignee as the present application. The high-potential operating mechanism 10 is described and claimed in U.S. Pat. application, Ser. No. 782,631, filed Dec. 10, 1968 by Fischer et al. and assigned to the assignee of this invention.

It will be noted that the end housing 11 has two positions, namely an upper position llU, as illustrated in FIG. 2, enabling the upper pole-units A", B and "C and the upper frame assembly 2A to be mounted upon a flat car (not shown) for rail shipment, and having an overall reduced profile. This will enable the flat car (not shown) to travel under bridges, through tunnels, over trestles, etc., where a reduced height, or profile is necessary. The lower frame assembly 28 may be shipped as a separate independent item.

The upper frame 2A, by the use of brackets 16 and and U- bolts, may support the gas reservoir housing 14, which contains a compressed gas, such as sulfur-hexafluoride (SF gas, at a reduced gas pressure.

When the two separate pieces of equipment are arrived at their termination points in the field site, suitable crane equipment (not shown) may be utilized to remove the lower frame assembly 23 from the fiat car, mount it upon cement pads (not shown), previously fabricated. Following this operation, the upper three pole-units A", 8" and C may be lifted by the aforesaid crane structure, and surmounted upon the lower frame assembly 28, and bolted into an operating position as shown in FIG. 1. Following this procedure, the end housing 11 may be lowered to its lower operative position 11D, as shown in FIG. 1. Then the reservoir 14 may be connected to upper frame assembly with brackets and U-bolts. Because of the provision of flexible wiring or cable, no internal electrical connections are required and the number of pipe couplings, which must be connected, are a minimum.

It, therefore, appears that the present invention is concerned with a mechanical frame assembly for a power circuit breaker l. The design of this frame assembly permits shipping fully assembled major component systems to most locations through and above the 230KV range. Upon arrival at the field destination, field assembly required is minimal. All adjustments will have been made at the factory prior to shipment, and should require only a checking procedure. All wiring also will have been made, as well as most piping and mechanical connections. This is all accomplished because of the two-piece frame construction. It will be noticed that there is provided a two-position end housing 11 located at one end of the circuitbreaker structure 1. The end housing 11 is put in the upper position llU for shipment, and is moved to the downward or lower position 11D, when the breaker sub-frame assembly 2B is installed to put the controls, etc. at a convenient height for monitoring, servicing, etc. These arrangements allow for wiring connections to remain intact, and a bare minimum of piping and mechanical connections, which must be made upon final assembly. Upon arrival at the field destination, the subframe 2B and reservoir 14 are installed under the three-phase unit 2A. Advantages claimed for the present invention are:

l. Breakers can be shipped as integral three-phase units with minimal packaging requirements.

2. All wiring can be completed at the factory.

3. All mechanical operator connections and adjustments can be made at the factory.

4. All piping can be installed at the factory.

5. The test made at the factory, such as leak tests, wiring tests, operational tests and electrical tests will prove indicative of the condition of the breaker, as received, since these components will be unaltered for shipping, except for a minimum number of piping connections.

6. Field installation is minimized.

7. Can be utilized for many ratings by merely changing the dimensions of the sub-frame assembly 23, thereby maintaining a low profile for the three-phase assembly.

. Reservoir 14 support is a simple bracket with a U-clamp.

Two-position end housing 11 which may contain gas system, mechanism, control and/or other functions of operation, monitoring or control to put these functions and mechanisms at a convenient location for servicing and inspection or monitoring.

The invention is applicable to various ratings and sizes of circuit breakers of different types, and is not limited to any particular type of circuit breaker. In other words, the circuitbreaker structure may employ compressed-gas, air, oil, or other interrupting mediums, as desired. Only for purposes of illustration, has the present invention been described in connection with a compressed-gas circuit breaker structure of the sulfur-hexafluoride (SF type.

Although there has been illustrated and described a specific structure, it is to be clearly understood that the same was merely for the purpose of illustration, and that changes and modifications may readily be made therein by those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim as our invention:

1. The combination of a circuit interrupter having one or more pole-units fixedly attached to an upper frame support, means defining a lower frame support adaptable for separation from the upper frame support for ease in rail shipment as two independent assemblies, and a two-position housing adaptable for movement to an upper position for rail shipment and also adaptable to a lower operating position upon final assembly in the field.

2. The combination of claim 1, wherein three pole-units are involved, and each pole-unit includes a compressed-gas tank fixedly secured to the upper frame support.

3. The combination of claim 1, wherein the housing is located at the end of the upper frame support.

4. The combination of claim 2, wherein the housing is located at the end of the three pole-units.

5. A circuit interrupter including two frame supports adaptable for separation from each other into two independent assemblies for ease in rail shipment, one or more poleunits fixedly secured to one of said frame supports, and a twoposition housing attached to said one frame support, whereby for ease of rail shipment said housing may be raised to one of its two positions, and subsequently, upon field assembly, may be lowered to its final operating position.

6. The combination of claim 5, wherein each pole-unit is of the compressed-gas type and comprises a compressed-gas tank fixedly secured to said one frame support.

7. The combination of claim 5, wherein the housing is located at the end of the pole-units.

8. The combination of claim 6, wherein the housing is located at the end of the pol e-u pits 

1. The combination of a circuit interrupter having one or more pole-units fixedly attached to an upper frame support, means defining a lower frame support adaptable for separation from the upper frame support for ease in rail shipment as two independent assemblies, and a two-position housing adaptable for movement to an upper position for rail shipment and also adaptable to a lower operating position upon final assembly in the field.
 2. The combination of claim 1, wherein three pole-units are involved, and each pole-unit includes a compressed-gas tank fixedly secured to the upper frame support.
 3. The combination of claim 1, wherein the housing is located at the end of the upper frame support.
 4. The combination of claim 2, wherein the housing is located at the end of the three pole-units.
 5. A circuit interrupter including two frame supports adaptable for separation from each other into two independent assemblies for ease in rail shipment, one or more pole-units fixedly secured to one of said frame supports, and a two-position housing attached to said one frame support, whereby for ease of rail shipment said housing may be raised to one of its two positions, and subsequently, upon field assembly, may be lowered to its final operating position.
 6. The combination of claim 5, wherein each pole-unit is of the compressed-gas type and comprises a compressed-gas tank fixedly secured to said one frame support.
 7. The combination of claim 5, wherein the housing is located at the end of the pole-units.
 8. The combination of claim 6, wherein the housing is located at the end of the pole-units. 